System and method to process meat

ABSTRACT

Method and apparatus are disclosed for processing meat. An example system comprises a database that includes estimates of meat weight associated with characteristics of an animal. The system also includes a server that, after receiving first characteristics of a first animal, generates a first meat weight of the first animal using the estimates in the database. Additionally, in some examples, the system includes an application that is downloadable onto a mobile device. The application (i) receives, via a first presented interface, a selection of the first animal, (ii) receives, via a series of second presented interfaces, the first characteristics of the first animal, (iii) sends the first characteristics to the server and receives the first meat weight, (iv) receives, via a series of third presented interfaces, an allocation of the first meat weight to goods offered by a processor, and (v) composes an order based on the allocation.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to facilitating efficient foodprocessing and, more specifically, a system and method to process meat.

BACKGROUND

After successfully hunting, hunters field dress the animal. The animalthen needs to be butchered. Hunters with the appropriate knowledge canbutcher the animal to process an animal into, for example, cuts of meat,sausages, and/or ground meat, etc. Sometimes, a hunter will opt fortaking the animal to a processor instead. For example, the hunter may beon a trip in another state or may not have the time or skill to butcherthe animal. However, finding a quality processor that can process theanimal according to the hunter's preferences can be difficult and timeconsuming. Additionally, the hunter does not always have up-to-dateinformation about goods and services offered by any one processor. Afterselecting a processor, the hunter must deliver the animal and tell theprocessor what cuts of meat they want without knowing how much they canorder or how much the butchering process will cost.

SUMMARY

The appended claims define this application. The present disclosuresummarizes aspects of the embodiments and should not be used to limitthe claims. Other implementations are contemplated in accordance withthe techniques described herein, as will be apparent to one havingordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings anddetailed description, and these implementations are intended to bewithin the scope of this application.

Example embodiments are disclosed for processing meat. An example systemcomprises a database that includes estimates of meat weight associatedwith characteristics of an animal. The system also includes a serverthat, after receiving first characteristics of a first animal, generatesa first meat weight of the first animal using the estimates in thedatabase. Additionally, the system includes an application that isdownloadable onto a mobile device. The application (i) receives, via afirst presented interface, a selection of the first animal, (ii)receives, via a series of second presented interfaces, the firstcharacteristics of the first animal, (iii) sends the firstcharacteristics to the server and receives the first meat weight, (iv)receives, via a series of third presented interfaces, an allocation ofthe first meat weight to goods offered by a processor, and (v) composesan order based on the allocation. The server generates an indicia toprovide to the application and processor to associate the first animalwith the order when the first animal is delivered to the processor, andsends the order to the processor.

An example system includes a first database that includes estimates ofmeat weight associated with characteristics of an animal and a seconddatabase that includes processors with associated lists of goods andservices offered by the processors. The system also includes a serverthat, after receiving first characteristics of a first animal, generatesa first meat weight of the first animal using the estimates in thedatabase. Additionally, the system includes an application executing ona mobile device. The application (i) receives, via a first presentedinterface, a selection of the first animal, (ii) receives, via a seriesof second presented interfaces, the first characteristics of the firstanimal, (iii) sends the first characteristics to the server and receivesthe first meat weight, (iv) receives, via a series of third presentedinterfaces, an allocation of the first meat weight using the list ofgoods and services associated with a selected one of the processors, and(v) composes an order based on the allocation. The server generates anindicia to provide to the application and processor to associate thefirst animal with the order when the first animal is delivered to theprocessor, and sends the order to the processor.

An example method is executed on a processor of a mobile device and/oron a web server that is displayed on (e.g., via a web browser) andreceives input from (e.g., via a touch screen) a mobile device. Theexample method includes receiving, via a first interface presented on atouchscreen on the mobile device, a selection of a processor, theselection being based on a current location of the mobile device. Theexample method also includes receiving, via a second interface, aselection of an animal. Additionally, the example method includesreceiving, via a series of third interfaces, characteristics of theanimal and sending the characteristics to a remote server. The examplemethod includes receiving an estimate meat weight from the remoteserver, the estimated meat weight being calculate based on thecharacteristics. The example method also includes receiving, via aseries of fourth interfaces, an allocation of the estimated meat weightusing the list of goods and services associated with the selectedprocessor and composing an order based on the allocation. The methodincludes, in response to sending the order to the remote server,receiving an indicia to associate the order with the animal anddisplaying the indicia on a fifth interface to provide into a scannerlocated at the selected processor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made toembodiments shown in the following drawings. The components in thedrawings are not necessarily to scale and related elements may beomitted, or in some instances proportions may have been exaggerated, soas to emphasize and clearly illustrate the novel features describedherein. In addition, system components can be variously arranged, asknown in the art. Further, in the drawings, like reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system to facilitate processing meat according tothe teachings of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an application executing on a mobile device tofacilitate processing meat.

FIGS. 3A through 3J illustrate graphical user interfaces presented bythe application of FIG. 2 to facilitate processing meat.

FIGS. 4 through 7 are flowcharts of a method to process meat, which maybe implemented by the application of FIG. 2 executing on the mobiledevice of FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 is a mobile device to execute the application of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

While the invention may be embodied in various forms, there are shown inthe drawings, and will hereinafter be described, some exemplary andnon-limiting embodiments, with the understanding that the presentdisclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the invention andis not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodimentsillustrated.

As described below, a system includes a server that communicates withmobile devices and meat processors (referred to as “processors” herein)to facilitate efficient processing of animals into cuts of meat and/orother animal parts. A processor is a company or person that receives ananimal carcass and butchers it into, for example, various cuts of meat,sausages, and/or ground meat products. The processor may also preserveother parts of the animal, such as the hide, head, and/or antlers. Theserver includes a database of processors and menus (e.g., a list ofservices and/or capabilities offered by the processor). Usinginformation input from an application executing on a mobile device, theserver estimates an amount of meat weight (e.g., the weight of meat thatis suitable for butchering) on the animal carcass. Using thisinformation, the application presents the menu of the processor andreceives entry of selections from a user. The application tracks theselections from the menu versus the estimated meat weight. In someexamples, the application presents sliders to facilitate the userdynamically allocating the estimated meat weight (e.g., by percentage,by weight, etc.) to the goods and/or services selected on the menu. Theestimate meat weight that is not used is converted into an order forground meat. When the order is completed, the application transmits theorder to the server. The order servers provides indicia (e.g., an ordernumber, a bar codes, a QSR code, etc.) to the application that serves toidentify the order. The server transmits the order to the selectedprocessor along with the indicia. The user may then deliver the animalto the processor to be processed according to the order.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 to facilitate processing meat accordingto the teachings of this disclosure. The system 100 provides anintuitive interface (as illustrated in FIGS. 3A-3J below) thatfacilitates the ordering of meat processing services when an amount ofavailable meat is unknown and when efficient ordering is necessary whentime is a factor (e.g., from when the animal is field dressed to whenthe animal is delivered to a processor). In the illustrated example, thesystem 100 includes a facilitator 102 and an application 104 executingon a mobile device 106 (e.g., a smartphone, a smartwatch, a tablet,etc.). Alternatively or additionally, in some examples, the system mayinclude a web server that serves interfaces (as described below) to andreceives input from a web browser executing on a computing device (e.g.,a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a workstation, etc.) or a webbrowser executing on the mobile device 102.

The facilitator 102 is in communication with the application 104 and aplurality of processors 108. The facilitator 102 provides informationabout the processors 108 (e.g., location, menu, etc.) to the application104. Based on input received from the application, the facilitator 102estimates meat weight of animals. The facilitator 102 receives an orderfrom the application 104 and forwards that order to one of theprocessors 108. The facilitator 102 includes a processor database 110,and an animal database 112, and an order server 114. The order server114, the processor database 110, and the animal database 112 may behosted in a cloud computing environment, where the order server 110 is aservice executing within the cloud computing environment.

The processor database 110 is one or more databases that associateprocessors with processor information (e.g., location, availability,etc.) and processor menus (e.g., a list of goods and services providedby the processor 108, etc.). The animal database 112 includes meatweight estimates for different types of animals (e.g., deer, cow, pig,lamb, goat, moose, bison, etc.) based on different criteria (e.g., size,gender, etc.) by cuts of meat (e.g., brisket, ribs, front shank, rearshank, chuck, heart, flank, sirloin, tenderloin, round, plate, steak,roast, rump, leg, shoulder, backstraps, belly, etc.) to be processed.For example, the animal database 112 may include an estimate for atenderloin of a deer buck that is large (e.g. greater than 150 pounds).

The order server 114 communicates with the application 104 and theprocessors 108. The order server 110 may include one or more servicesthat operate in the cloud environment as described below. The orderserver 114 receives a search query from the application 104 thatincludes criteria to related to the processors 108. For example, thecriteria may include a geographic location, a particular product orservice, and/or a reputation score, etc. The order server 114 queriesthe processor database 110 using the criteria and returns a searchresult to the application 104 that includes one or more processors 108that meet the criteria. In response to receiving a selection of one ofthe processors 108, the order server 114 forwards the menu associatedwith that processor 108 to the application 104.

The order server 114 receives characteristics (e.g., gender, size,preferred cuts, areas of the animal that have sustained damages, etc.)of one or more animals. Cross-referencing the characteristics with theanimal database 112, the order server 114 estimates a meat weightavailable to be processed. In some examples, the meat weight issubdivided into cuts to facilitate ordering specific types of cuts. Forexample, because a flank steak is only available from the flank of ananimal the meat weight available from the flank may be separatelytracked to limit the amount of cuts can be ordered from the flank. Themeat weight(s) is/are transmitted to the application 104.

The order server 114 receives an order from the application 104 thatindicates the preferences of the user regarding the butchering of theanimal and/or an allocation of the estimated meat weight. In someexamples, the order includes (i) amounts (e.g., in points, kilograms,etc.) of goods that the user prefers and (ii) and a set of rules todetermine how to account for variations in the actual meat weight fromthe estimated meat weight. For example, the order may indicate that theuser wants five pounds of summer sausage, five pounds of jerky, and twopounds of ground meat and may indicate that the summer sausage is thefirst priority. In such an example, if there is only eleven pounds ofactual meat weight, the order may result in five pounds of summersausage, five pounds of jerky, and one pound of ground meat. The orderserver 114 generates an order confirmation with indicia used to identifythe order and electronically sends the order to the one of theprocessors 108 that was selected by the user along with the indicia. Theindicia is also sent to the application 104 to be used to associate theanimal with the order when the animal is transported to the processor108.

The application 104 receives information from the order server 102 andpresents that information to the user via graphical user interfaces(GUIs). FIG. 2 illustrates an example structure of the application 104.In the illustrated example, the application 104 includes a processorselector 202, a game handler 204, a meat configurator 206, and an ordermanager 208.

As described in FIGS. 4 and 5 below, the processor selector 202 presentsinterfaces to the user to receive input of criteria to select aprocessor 108 and receive a selection of one of the processors 108. Forexample, the input criteria may be based on coordinates from a globalpositioning system (GPS) receiver of the mobile device 106. As describedin FIGS. 4 and 6 below, the game handler 204 presents interfaces toreceive input of the characteristics of one or more animals and/ordesired cuts to facilitate estimation of the available meat weight. Forexample, the interfaces may facilitate selection of the gender, size,the cuts of the animal to harvest, and the locations of the animal thathave been damaged. As described in FIGS. 4 and 7 below, the meatconfigurator 206 presents interfaces to receive input of user selectionof goods and services from the menu of processor 108 selected via theprocessor selector 202. The meat configurator 206 facilitates ordersbeing dynamically defined based on the menus specified by the selectedprocessor 108. The interface displays the amount of available meatweight based on the estimation provided in response to the input to thegame handler 204. The meat configurator 206 tracks the use of the meatweight as the user selects products and services. As described in FIG. 4below, the order manager 208 processes and places an order based on theselections received by the meat configurator 206. In some examples, theorder manager 208 manages interfaces to communicate the indicia receivedfrom the order server 114.

FIGS. 3A through 3J illustrate GUIs presented by the application 104 tofacilitate processing meat. FIG. 3A depicts an example search interface302 presented by the processor selector 202 that (a) receives aselection of criteria from the user to send to the order server 114, (b)displays the information (e.g., name, address, relative distance fromthe mobile device 106, phone number, hours of operation, etc.) of theprocessors 108 from the processor database 110 that meet the criteria,and (c) receives a selection of one of the displayed processors 108. Inthe illustrated example, the search interface 302 displays the locationsof the processors 108 on a map. The search interface 302 may bedisplayed, for example, after the user logs into the application 104.

FIG. 3B depicts an example filter interface 304 presented by theprocessor selector 202 that (a) displays selections of the criteria and(b) relieves an input of one or more criteria from the user. The filterinterface 304 may be displayed, for example, in response to the userselecting a filter option on the search interface 302.

FIG. 3C is an animal selection interface 306 that is presented by thegame handler 204. In the illustrated example, the animal selectioninterface 306 lists a selection of animals of which the order server 114can estimate the meat weight. The user selects one of the animals fromthe list.

FIG. 3D is an animal characteristics interface 308 that is presented bythe game handler 204. In the illustrated example, the animalcharacteristics interface 308 presents options to input thecharacteristics of the animal selected on the animal selection interface306. In the illustrated example, the animal characteristics interface308 includes fields to input the gender of the animal, the estimated ageand/or weight of the animal, and the areas of the animal that havesustained damage. The input into the animal characteristics interface308 are sent to the order server 114 to be used to estimate theavailable meat weight of the animal.

FIG. 3E is a meat cut interface 310 that is presented by the gamehandler 204. The meat cut interface 310 presents options to input thecuts of meat of the animal that the user wants butchered. The input tothe meat cut interface 310 is sent to the order server 114 to estimatethe available meat weight of the animal (e.g., the cuts that areselected are butchered and not available as part of the meat weight oraffect the available meat weight).

FIG. 3F is a meat weight estimate interface 312 that displays theestimated meat weight received from the order server 114 that ispresented by the meat configurator 206. The estimated meat weight isbased on the size and gender of the animal (enter into the animalcharacteristics interface 308) minus a portion to account for damage tothe animal (entered into the animal characteristics interface 308) andthe specific cuts to be butchered (entered into the meat cut interface310).

FIG. 3G illustrates an example menu selection interface 314 that ispresented by the meat configurator 206. The menu selection interface 314presents the menu that the order server 114 retrieves from the processordatabase 110 corresponding to the processor 108 selected on the searchinterface 302. The menu selection interface 314 presents goods andservices provided by the selected processor 108. In the illustratedexample, the menu selection interface 314 also displays and updates theamount of available meat weight based on the estimate meat weight andthe meat weights used by the selections.

FIG. 3H illustrates an example menu configuration interface 316 that ispresented by the meat configurator 206. In the illustrated example, themenu configuration interface 316 displays a summary of the goods andservices selected (e.g., the parts of the animal to be preserved thatare selected on the animal characteristics interface 308, the cuts ofmeat that are selected on the meat cut interface 310, and the goods andservices that are selected on the menu selection interface 314, etc.).The menu configuration interface 316 includes input fields thatfacilitate the user changing the amount of a particular good selected onthe menu selection interface 314 and/or to define the percentage of theestimated meat weight to be used to produce that particular good whenthe actual meat weights is determined by the processor 108. In theillustrated example, the menu configuration interface 316 includes asliding bar (sometimes referred to as a “slider”) forincreasing/decreasing quantities of the goods selected on the menuselection interface 314. This provides visual feedback to the user as tohow the animal is being utilized in a manner that is easy to understandand intuitive on a limited sized screen (such as a smartphone or otherwearable smart device).

FIG. 3I illustrates an example ground meat selection interface 318 thatis presented by the meat configurator 206. The ground meat selectioninterface 318 provides inputs for the user to select how to handle anyremaining estimated meat weight not used up in the selection of thegoods and services on the menu selection interface 312 and/or the menuconfiguration interface 314

FIG. 3J illustrates an example order confirmation interface 320 that ispresented by the order manager 208 to confirm that the order has beensent to the order server 114 and to display the indicia associated withthe order to the user. The indicia is available to provide to theprocessor 108 when the animal is physically delivered to the processor108.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method to efficiently provision for thebutchering of an animal, which may be implemented on the mobile device106 of FIGS. 1 and 8. Initially, at block 402, the processor selector202 receives an input of a selection of one of the processors 108. Theprocessor selector 202 presents interfaces (e.g., the search interface302 of FIG. 3A and the filter interface 304 of FIG. 3B above, etc.) tofacilitate displaying available processors 108 and receiving a selectionof one of the processors 108. An example method of receiving the inputof the selection of one of the processors 108 is disclosed in connectionwith FIG. 5 below.

At block 404, the game handler 204 receives characteristics of an animalto be processed and, with the order server 114, estimates the meatweight available to be processed. The game handler 204 presentsinterfaces (e.g., the animal selection interface 306 of FIG. 3C, theanimal characteristics interface 308 of FIG. 3D, the meat cut interface310 of FIG. 3E, and the meat weight estimate interface 312 of FIG. 3Fabove, etc.) to receive the input of the animal characteristics used toestimate the available meat weight. An example method of receivingcharacteristics of the animal is disclosed in connection with FIG. 6below. At block 406, the game handler 204 determines whether there isanother animal that will be processed. When there is another animal, themethod returns to block 404. Otherwise, when there is not anotheranimal, the method continues to block 408.

At block 408, the meat configurator 206 receives selections from theuser and configures an order using the estimated meat weight. The meatconfigurator 206 presents interfaces (e.g., the menu selection interface314 of FIG. 3G, the menu configuration interface 316 of FIG. 311, andthe ground meat selection interface 318 of FIG. 3I above, etc.) toreceive the input to compose the order. An example method of receivingthe input to compose the order is disclosed in connection with FIG. 7below.

At block 410, the order manager 208 processes and places the order bystructuring the order and sending it to the order server 114. The ordermanager receives confirmation of the order and indicia associated withthe order from the order server 114. The order manager 208 presents aninterface (e.g., the order confirmation interface 320 of FIG. 3J above,etc.) to display the order confirmation and in the indicia. The indiciamay be later used to associated the order with the animal when theanimal is taken to the processor 108. For example, the processor 108 mayinclude an optical scanner to read the indicia from the mobile device106. As another example, the indicia may be imported into an electronicpayment application (sometimes referred to as an “electronic wallet”)that communicated with a near field communication device at theprocessor 108 to transfer the indicia to the processor 108.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for receiving the input of theselection of one of the processors 108. At block 502, the processorselector 202 presents one or more interfaces (e.g., the search interface302 of FIG. 3A and the filter interface 304 of FIG. 3B above, etc.) tofacilitate selection of one of the processors 108. For example, theprocessor selector 202 may provide input fields to input criteria, suchas specific desired goods and/or services, location, and/or type ofanimal, etc. In some examples the processor selector 202 receives thecoordinates of the mobile device 106 from a GPS receiver of the mobiledevice 106. At block 504, the processor selector receives inputregarding the preferences of the user. For example, the input mayinclude criteria of “20 mile radius; deer; antlers; brats; summersausage.” The processor selector 202 sends the preferences to the orderserver 114 to query the processor database 110 to create a list of oneor more processors 108 that meet the criteria. At block 506, theprocessor selector 202 receives the list of processors that correspondto the user's preferences and displays it on the interface. At block508, the processor selector 202 receives a selection of one of theprocessors 108 via the presented interface.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for receiving characteristics of theanimal. At block 602, the game handler 204 presents an interface tofacilitate selection of an animal (e.g., the animal selection interface306 of FIG. 3C above). At block 604, the game handler 204 receives aselection of the animal via the interface. At block 606, the gamehandler presents an interface (e.g., the animal characteristicsinterface 308 of FIG. 3D above) to facilitate input of characteristicsof the animal selected at block 604. The interface is populated withfields that are based on the selected animal. For example, the interfacemay include a field relating to processing options for antlers when adeer is selected, but not when a pig is selected. At block 608, the gamehandler 204 receives an input of the characteristics of the animal. Atblock 610, the game handler 204 presents an interface (e.g., the meatweight estimate interface 312 of FIG. 3F above) to facilitate the userindicating which parts of the animal the user desires to be butcheredinto specific cuts of meat (e.g., belly, ribs, tenderloin, etc.). Atblock 612, the game handler 204 receives an input of the desired cuts ofmeat through the interface. At block 614, the game handler 204, with theorder server 114, estimates the available meat weight of the animal. Theavailable meat weight is estimated based on the characteristics of theanimal (e.g., gender, size, etc.), the areas that the animal sustaineddamage, and the areas of the animal that will be butchered into specificcuts of meat. In some examples, the order server 114 uses thisinformation to query the animal database 112. The order server 114 sendsthe estimated meat weight to the application 104 to be displayed by thegame handler 204.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method to receive input to generate an order.At block 702, the meat configurator 206 receives the menu of goods andservices of the processor 108 selected by the user from the order server114. At block 704, the meat configurator 206 presents the menu in aninterface (e.g., the menu selection interface 314 of FIG. 3G above). Atblock 706, the menu selection interface 314 of FIG. 3G displays, on theinterface, the available meat weight. When no menu item is selected, theavailable meat weight is the estimated meat weight. At block 708, themeat configurator 206 receives, via the interface, a selection of anitem on the menu. At block 710, the meat configurator 206 adjusts theavailable meat weight based on the selection. At block 712, the meatconfigurator 206 determines whether there will be another selection. Forexample, the meat configurator 206 determines there will not be anotherselection when the “next” button is pressed on the interface. When therewill be another selection, the method returns to block 706. Otherwise,if there is not going to be another selection, the method continues atblock 714.

At block 714, the meat configurator 206 displays an interface (e.g., themenu configuration interface 316 of FIG. 311 above) to configure and/oradjust the menu items selected at block 706 through 710. For example,the user may adjust the amount (e.g., by weight, by quantity, bypercentage, etc.) of the selected items. At block 716, the meatconfigurator 206 displays an interface (e.g., the ground meat selectioninterface 318 of FIG. 3I) to facilitate the user allocating theremaining meat weight to ground meat options offered by the processor108. In some examples, the processor 108 has a default option toallocate the remaining meat weight. For example, by default, theremaining meat weight may be allocated to an animal-pork blend. At block718, the meat configurator 206 receives input of one or more groundselections. When the user has competed allocating the remaining meatweight, at block 720, the meat configurator 206 generates the order tosend to the order server 114.

The flowcharts of FIG. 4-7 are representative of machine readableinstructions stored in memory (such as the memory 822 of FIG. 8 below)that comprise one or more programs that, when executed by a processor(such as the processor 820 of FIG. 8 below), cause the mobile device 106to implement the example processor selector 202, the example gamehandler 204, the example meat configurator 206, the example ordermanager 208, and/or, generally, the application 104 of FIGS. 1, 2, and8. Further, although the example program(s) is/are described withreference to the flowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 4-7, many other methodsof implementing the example processor selector 202, the example gamehandler 204, the example meat configurator 206, and/or the example ordermanager 208 may alternatively be used. For example, the order ofexecution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocksdescribed may be changed, eliminated, or combined.

Alternatively, in some examples, the flowcharts of FIG. 4-7 arerepresentative of machine readable instructions stored in memory of aweb server that comprise one or more services that, when executed by oneor more processors of the web server, cause the web server to implementthe example processor selector 202, the example game handler 204, theexample meat configurator 206, the example order manager 208, and/or,generally, the application 104 of FIGS. 1, 2, and 8 to interact with aweb browser executing on the mobile device 106 or the computing devicein communication with webserver.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of electronic components 800 of the mobiledevice 106 of FIG. 1. In the illustrated example, the electroniccomponents 800 include application hardware 802, a screen 804, cellularhardware 806, a cellular transceiver 808, a SIM card 810, a personalarea network (PAN) module 812, a wireless local area network (WLAN)module 814, a GPS receiver 816, and a data bus 818.

The application hardware 802 includes a processor or controller 820 andmemory 822. In the illustrated example, the application hardware 802 isstructured to include application 104. The processor or controller 820may be any suitable processing device or set of processing devices suchas, but not limited to: a microprocessor, a microcontroller-basedplatform, a suitable integrated circuit, one or more field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), and/or one or more application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs). The memory 822 may be volatile memory (e.g., RAM,which can include non-volatile RAM, magnetic RAM, ferroelectric RAM, andany other suitable forms); non-volatile memory (e.g., disk memory, FLASHmemory, EPROMs, EEPROMs, non-volatile solid-state memory, etc.),unalterable memory (e.g., EPROMs), and/or read-only memory. In someexamples, the memory 822 includes multiple kinds of memory, particularlyvolatile memory and non-volatile memory.

The memory 822 is computer readable media on which one or more sets ofinstructions, such as the software for operating the methods of thepresent disclosure can be embedded. The instructions may embody one ormore of the methods or logic as described herein. In a particularembodiment, the instructions may reside completely, or at leastpartially, within any one or more of the memory 822, the computerreadable medium, and/or within the processor 820 during execution of theinstructions.

The terms “non-transitory computer-readable medium” and “tangiblecomputer-readable medium” should be understood to include a singlemedium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database,and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets ofinstructions. The terms “non-transitory computer-readable medium” and“tangible computer-readable medium” also include any tangible mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructionsfor execution by a processor or that cause a system to perform any oneor more of the methods or operations disclosed herein. As used herein,the term “tangible computer readable medium” is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage diskand to exclude propagating signals.

The screen 804 receives input from the user(s) and display information(such as, the interfaces 302-320). In the illustrated example, thescreen 804 is a touch screen. The user interacts with the interfaces302-320 via the screen 804. The screen 804 may include a Liquid CrystalDisplay (LCD), a Thin Film Transistor LCD (TFT-LCD) display, an In PlaneSwitching LCD (IPS-LCD) display, an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED)display, an Active Matrix OLED (AMOLED) display, or a “Super AMOLED”display, etc.

The cellular hardware 806 includes hardware (e.g., processors, digitalsignal processing circuitry, memory, etc.) to communicate with acellular network via the cellular transceiver 808. The cellular hardware806 handles the cellular protocols (e.g., authentication, signalprocessing, transmission and reception, etc.). In some examples, theapplication hardware 802 and the cellular hardware 806 are combined intoone hardware package. The cellular hardware 806 uses information storedon the subscriber identity module (SIM) card 810 to communicate with thecellular network, such as an international mobile subscriber identity(IMSI) number and a corresponding authentication key.

The PAN module 812 includes hardware (e.g., processors, memory, storage,antenna, etc.) to communicate with other devices (e.g., a vehicle, aheadset, headphones, a smart watch etc.) using a personal area networkprotocol (e.g., Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, etc.). The WLAN module 814 includeshardware (e.g., processors, memory, storage, antenna, etc.) tocommunicate with external networks (e.g., the Internet, etc.) using awireless local area network protocol (including IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/acor others). The GPS receiver 816 receives signals from GPS satellites(and, in some example, the cellular network) and calculates the positionof the mobile device 106.

The data bus 818 is one or more electrical connections thatcommunicatively couple the application hardware 802, the cellularhardware 806, the PAN module 812, the WLAN module 814 and/or the GPSreceiver 816. The data bus(s) 818 may include, for example, SerialPeripheral Interface (SPI) bus(s), Inter-Integrated Circuit (I²C)bus(es), Universal Asynchronous (UART) bus(es), and/or Secure DigitalInput/Output (SDIO) bus(es), etc.

In this application, the use of the disjunctive is intended to includethe conjunctive. The use of definite or indefinite articles is notintended to indicate cardinality. In particular, a reference to “the”object or “a” and “an” object is intended to denote also one of apossible plurality of such objects. Further, the conjunction “or” may beused to convey features that are simultaneously present instead ofmutually exclusive alternatives. In other words, the conjunction “or”should be understood to include “and/or”. As used here, the terms“module” and “unit” refer to hardware with circuitry to providecommunication, control and/or monitoring capabilities, often inconjunction with sensors. “Modules” and “units” may also includefirmware that executes on the circuitry. The terms “includes,”“including,” and “include” are inclusive and have the same scope as“comprises,” “comprising,” and “comprise” respectively.

The above-described embodiments, and particularly any “preferred”embodiments, are possible examples of implementations and merely setforth for a clear understanding of the principles of the invention. Manyvariations and modifications may be made to the above-describedembodiment(s) without substantially departing from the spirit andprinciples of the techniques described herein. All modifications areintended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure andprotected by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a first database configuredto store estimates of meat weight associated with characteristics of ananimal; a server configured to, after receiving first characteristics ofa first animal, generate a first meat weight of the first animal usingthe estimates in the first database; and an application that isdownloadable onto a mobile device, the application configured to, whenexecuted, cause the mobile device to: receive, via a first presentedinterface, a selection of the first animal; receive, via a series ofsecond presented interfaces, the first characteristics of the firstanimal; send the first characteristics to the server and receive thefirst meat weight; receive, from the server, a third series ofinterfaces configured to display: goods offered by a processor, eachgood displayed associated with a corresponding one of adjustable inputelements; and a graphic representation depicting an amount of availablemeat weight; receive, via the third series of interfaces, an allocationof the first meat weight to at least one of the displayed goods usingthe corresponding one of adjustable input elements; update the graphicrepresentation to depict an updated amount of available meat weight inresponse to receiving the allocation using the adjustable inputelements; and compose an order based on the allocation; and wherein theserver is to: generate an indicia to provide to the application and aprocessor to associate the first animal with the order when the firstanimal is delivered to the processor; and send the order to theprocessor.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one interface ofthe third series of interfaces includes a menu interface to receive aselection of goods from a menu associated with the processor and atleast one of the adjustable input elements comprises a slider.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, including a scanner, located at the processor, toscan the indicia to associate the first animal with the order.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein at least one of the series of secondpresented interfaces includes a graphic representation associated withthe first animal to facilitate selection of cuts of meat of the firstanimal to be butchered.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least oneinterface of the third series of interfaces is further configured tofacilitate input to define the allocation of the first meat weight tothe at least one good when an actual meat weight determined by theprocessor is different than the first meat weight.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the graphic representation depicts an allocated meatweight relative to the first meat weight to track available meat weight.7. A system comprising: a first database configured to store estimatesof meat weight associated with characteristics of an animal; a seconddatabase configured to store processors with associated lists of goodsand services offered by the processors; a server configured to, afterreceiving first characteristics of a first animal, generate a first meatweight of the first animal using the estimates in the first database;and an application executing on a mobile device configured to: receive,via a first presented interface, a selection of the first animal;receive, via a series of second presented interfaces, the firstcharacteristics of the first animal; send the first characteristics tothe server and receive the first meat weight; receive, from the server,a third series of interfaces configured to display: at least one of thegoods and services offered by a processor, each good or servicedisplayed associated with a corresponding one of adjustable inputelement; and a graphic representation depicting an amount of availablemeat weight; receive, via the third series of interfaces, an allocationof the first meat weight to at least one of the goods and servicesdisplayed using at least one of the adjustable input elements; andupdate the graphic representation to depict an updated amount ofavailable meat weight in response to receiving the allocation using theadjustable input elements; compose an order based on the allocation; andwherein the server is to: generate an indicia to provide to theapplication and processor to associate the first animal with the orderwhen the first animal is delivered to the processor; and send the orderto the processor.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first animal isa deer.
 9. The system of claim 7, including a scanner, located at theprocessor, to scan the indicia to associate the first animal with theorder.
 10. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the series ofsecond presented interfaces includes a graphic representation associatedwith the first animal to facilitate selection of cuts of meat of thefirst animal to be butchered.
 11. The system of claim 7, wherein atleast one interface of the third series of interfaces is furtherconfigured to facilitate input to define the allocation of the firstmeat weight to the at least one of the goods and services when an actualmeat weight determined by the processor is different than the first meatweight.
 12. The system of claim 7, wherein the graphic representation anallocated meat weight relative to the first meat weight to trackavailable meat weight.
 13. A method executed on a computing device, themethod comprising: receiving, via a first interface presented on ascreen on the computing device, a selection of a processor, theselection being based on a location entered via the computing device;receiving, via a second interface, a selection of an animal; receiving,via a series of third interfaces, characteristics of the animal; sendingthe characteristics to a remote server; receiving an estimated meatweight from the remote server, the estimated meat weight beingcalculated based on the characteristics; displaying, via a series offourth interfaces, goods offered by the selected processor and a graphicrepresentation depicting an amount of available meat weight, whereineach good displayed is associated with a corresponding one of adjustableinput elements; receiving, via the series of fourth interfaces, anallocation of the estimated meat weight to at least one of the displayedgoods using at least one of the adjustable input elements; updating thegraphic representation to depict an updated amount of available meatweight in response to receiving the allocation using the adjustableinput elements; composing an order based on the allocation; in responseto sending the order to the remote server, receiving an indicia toassociate the order with the animal; and displaying the indicia on afifth interface to provide into a scanner located at the selectedprocessor.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the animal is a deer. 15.The method of claim 13, wherein at least one interface of the series ofthird interfaces includes a graphic representation associated with theanimal to facilitate selection of cuts of meat of the animal to bebutchered.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one of theseries of fourth interfaces is configured to facilitate input to definethe allocation of an actual meat weight to at least one of the goodswhen the actual meat weight determined by the selected processor isdifferent than the estimated meat weight.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein the adjustable input elements include a slider, wherein changinga position of the slider changes the allocation of the at least onecorresponding good.
 18. The method of claim 13, wherein the graphicrepresentation depicts an allocated meat weight relative to theestimated meat weight to track available meat weight.